Getting Started

Getting help

Most commands have built-in documentation you can access with the --help option:

You can generally access the same documentation as Unix man pages, e.g:

Creating a repository

Use git init to create a git repository in your current directory:

git init creates a git repository in your current working directory. You will add files to this repository using git add. This gives you a repository (the .git directory) and a working copy (everything else).

Tracking an Existing Project

If you are going to start tracking an existing project with git, you will generally start like this:

This initializes the repository. Next, add the existing files to the repository:

Adding files

The git add command schedules files to be committed to the repository.

Unlike Subversion, if you modify a file you (generally) need to git add that file in order to make the changes part of the next commit.

Use the git reset command to "undo" an add operation:

This resets the index but leaves your working directory untouched. You can also use git reset to revert to a previous commit; read the documentation for more information.

Committing changes

Use git commit to commit files to your local repository:

The command git commit by itself will commit any changes scheduled using git add. If you would like to commit all locally modified files, use the -a option:

You may also commit a subset of modified files by specifying paths on the
command line:

Managing Files

Renaming files

Use git mv to rename files in the repository:

Because git tracks files by cryptographic checksum, rather than by name, the git mv command is not strictly necessary. If you manually rename a file and then do a git rm file followed by a git add file, git will correctly recognize that you have simply renamed it (because the checksum is still the same).

Removing files

Use git rm to remove files from the repository:

What's changed: status

Use git status to see a list of modified files:

The output of git status will look something like this:

The files listed as "changed but not updated" are files that you have modified but not yet added to the repository. "Untracked files" are files that have not previously been added to the repository.

What's changed: diffs

Use git diff to see pending changes in your working copy:

The output of git diff is standard diff output, e.g.:

You can also use git diff to see the changes between arbitrary revisions of your project:

Changes in working copy vs. previous commit:

-Changes between two previous commits:

Working With Remote Repositories

Cloning a Remote Repository

Use the git clone command to check out a working copy of a remote repository:

The command git clone will clone the remote repository to a new directory in your current directory named after the repository, unless you explicitly provide a name with the DIRECTORY argument.

This is analogous to Subversion's checkout operation.

You can only clone the top-level repository; unlike Subversion, git does not allow you to clone individual subtrees.

Updating your working copy

Use git pull to update your local repository from the remote repository and merge changes into your working copy:

git pull by itself will pull changes from the remote repository defined by the branch.master.remote config option (which will typically be the repository from which you originally cloned your working copy). If there are multiple remote repositories associated with your working copy, you can specify a repository (and branch) on the command line, e.g, to pull changes from the branch master at a remote named origin:

Pushing changes

Use git push to send your committed changes to a remote repository:

git push by itself will push your changes to the remote repository defined by the branch.master.remote config option (which will typically be the repository from which you originally cloned your working copy). If there are multiple remote repositories associated with your working copy, you can specify a repository (and branch) on the command line, e.g, to push your changes to branch master at a remote named origin:

If you attempt to push to a repository that is newer than your working copy you will see an error similar to the following:

To fix this, you need to pull from that repo, merge changes, and then push.

Sharing your repository

If you will be sharing a repository with others (or with yourself on multiple computers), you will need to create a "bare" repository – that is, a repository without a working copy. You do this with the -b flag to git init:

You can then clone this repository, pull from it, and push to it as described in the previous section.

Conflicts

A conflict occurrs when two people make overlapping changes.

They are detected when you attempt to update your working copy via git pull.
You may discard your changes, discard the repository changes, or attempt to correct things manually. If you attempt to pull in changes that conflict with your working tree, you will see an error similar to the following:

To resolve the conflict manually:

Edit the conflicting files as necessary.

To discard your changes (and accept the remote repository version):

run git checkout --theirs README

To override the repository with your changes:

run git checkout --ours README

When you complete the above tasks:

add the files with git add

commit the changes with git commit.

Log, Tags, and Branches

Viewing history

The git log command shows you the history of your repository:

git log with no arguments shows you the commit messages for each revision in your repository:

Tagging and branching

Git has explicit support for tagging and branching.

git tag manipulates tags

git branch and git checkout manipulate branches

Tags

Create a tag:

Creates a lightweight tag (an alias for a commit object). Add -a to create an annotated tag (i.e., with an associated message). It is also possible to create cryptographically signed tags.

To list available tags:

Branches

List branches:

Create a new branch:

To switch to a branch:

For example, you want to enhance your code with some awesome experimental code. You create a new seas-workshop-dev branch and switch to it:

You make some changes, and when things are working you commit your branch:

And then merge it into the master branch:

The Git Index

Git is not really just like Subversion (or most other version control solutions). That's mainly because of the git "index".

The index is a staging area between your working copy and your local repository.

git add adds files to the index

git commit commits files from the index to the repository.

The diff commands uses the index:

git diff is the difference between your working copy and the index.

git diff HEAD is the difference between your working copy and the local repository.

git diff --cached is the difference between the index and the local repository.

Refer back to this illustration if you get confused:

(This image used with permission.)

Git Plays Well With Others

Git can integrate with other version control systems.

It can act as a Subversion client (may be the only Subversion client you ever need).

Can import a CVS repository.

Integrating w/ Subversion

You can use git as your Subversion client. This gives you many of the benefits of a DVCS while still interacting with a Subversion repository.

Cloning a remote repository:

The -s flag informs git that your Subversion repository uses the recommended repository layout (i.e., that the top level of your repository contains trunk/, tags/, and branches/ directories). The HEAD of your working copy will track the trunk.

This instructs git to clone the entire repository, including the complete revision history. This may take a while for repositories with a long history. You can use the -r option to request a partial history. From the man page:

Committing your changes back to the Subversion repository:

Before you push your changes to the Subversion repository you need to first commit any pending modifications to your local repository. Otherwise, git will complain:

To fix this, commit your changes:

And then send your changes to the Subversion repository:

Updating your working copy from the Subversion repository:

As with git svn dcommit, you must have a clean working copy before running the rebase command.

Integrating w/ CVS

You can import a CVS repository into git (this is a one-time, one-way operation). The CVS import feature requires cvsps, a tool for collating CVS changes into changesets.